Self-publishing has become increasingly more popular in the past decade.
However, most self-published books don't make the best seller list, and, because of marketing costs, don't even make it to the major distribution centers like Barnes and Noble or Amazon. Even hiring a publicist can't make a "fair" book a "great" one.
Not that vanity publishing is a terrible idea by any means. But, to be clear, large publishing houses are for-profit businesses and thus demand professional writing and editing. The guidelines for vanity publishing are not as rigid.
Recently, an acquaintance quickly published a book of her own poetry (which I believe to be a difficult genre to publish at any rate.) At first I believed she paid a large fee to be published, which is the most common scenario with vanity publishing, but I was wrong. There was no fee.
Since it seemed odd, I perused the publisher's legalese that's available on its website: I have only determined that the publisher forever retains all printing rights to any book it publishes.
The publisher doggedly claims it is not a vanity publisher. Since I have yet to see an actual contract it distributes to its clients, I am currently unaware of any "loopholes" that might be in the fine print there.
Still, I can't help but be suspicious that the publisher is exactly what it claims not to be: a vanity publisher, in disguise.
Please feel free to view the publisher's website: X
What do you think?
Like you, I'm dubious ... but I can't really tell from the website either.
ReplyDeleteGood post. 15/15